Microsoft, West Coast Customs Create the Ultimate 400-hp ‘Device’

How do you remake an automotive icon? If you’re West Coast Customs, it starts with some oversized dubs and copious quantities of neon lighting. If you’re the Microsoft skunkworks development team, it means incorporating the company’s entire suite of mobile and gaming services into one of Motown’s greatest pony cars.

Despite what you see above, this isn’t a 1967 Ford Mustang. The fastback body is a replica produced by Dynacorn, but underneath are the modern components of a 2012 Mustang chassis. But like momma always said, it’s what’s on the inside that counts, and that’s where the West Coast Customs crew and their compatriots at Microsoft went wild.

It starts with a Lumia 800 running Windows Phone 7 and Viper’s SmartStart app, which allows the user to locate, lock, unlock and start the car remotely. Once inside, a fully digital instrument cluster provides a choice of eight different “skins,” including replicas of the 1967 and 2012 Mustang’s IP, along with a Metro-style design. Above that is a heads-up display that provides everything from telemetry to navigation data, complete with Bing Maps integration, turn-by-turn directions and point-of-interest icons showing nearby restaurants, gas stations and shopping centers.

Being a Ford product, the Blue Oval’s Sync system is on board for traffic information, voice controls and audio apps, while a tablet built into the dash on the passenger side allows your companion to play XBox 360 with an embedded Kinect setup.

The Kinetic integration goes even further, with two hackable motion detectors mounted front and back to keep tabs on the surroundings and alert drivers about pedestrians and other objects in the ‘Stang’s path. The video from the two systems can also be streamed to your phone thanks to a 4G hotspot, and partnered with the external speakers and customizable screen mounted into the rear windshield, you can scream at the kids surrounding your ride and let the driver behind you know that he’s following too closely.

Even better, Microsoft will be making all the source code from “Project Detroit” available on CodePlex in the next few weeks, so you can start integrating some of these same systems in your own vehicle.

If you’re interested in following the build, check out Channel 9’s site and watch the Discovery Velocity Network’s this Sunday at 9:00 PM, as taste of which is available in the video below.